Following the recommendations made in the Statutory Guidance issued under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, Standing Together has been awarded a three-year contract by the Home Office to identify and understand domestic abuse interventions across healthcare settings. Through working innovatively with partnerships in Health and Domestic Abuse, ensuring interventions are equitable and inclusive, our overall hope is to instil sustainable change to transform health care’s response to Domestic Abuse by ensuring a consistent and coordinated whole health system approach. 

The Crossing Pathways project draws together mapping, evaluation and learning across multiple health settings, offering insight into how survivors experiencing domestic abuse and multiple disadvantage navigate care systems, where support fails and what changes deliver meaningful outcomes. We invite you to download the summary report to explore the key findings, case studies and recommendations that support effective health-sector responses.

The first phase of our work was to map provision of health and domestic abuse services and processes throughout England. The second phase of our work is to now fill the gaps identified in phase one and distribute funding within a consortium of charities to set up effective domestic abuse interventions in partnership with NHS. Services are granted funds for a 12 month period and these include initiatives such as:

• Older Rural focused Domestic Abuse Workers
• Harmful Practises Trainer (London)
• Domestic Abuse Coordinator – link to pathfinder page
• Perpetrator Health Domestic Abuse Services
• Mental Health IDVAs
• Maternity IDVA
• Disability IDVA

Alongside this we will be implementing the best practice networks ‘Crossing Pathways – Integrating Best Practise within Health and Domestic Abuse’. These meetings will take place regionally (online) with partners from NHS, Domestic Abuse and other health services and VAWG leads in the area. This group has the joint purpose of improving knowledge, pathways and responses for victims/survivors of domestic abuse within healthcare settings.

To find out more about our Crossing Pathways Network in your area, please contact health@standingtogether.org.uk

Health DA Training Packages

ChelWest and Charing Cross offer a tiered training programme for all staff working within the Trust.

• Level 1 – e-learning
• Level 2 – DA Awareness Briefing: 1-1.5 hour session exploring the definition and dynamics of DA. This session teaches staff to follow the AVAA model of response; how to spot DA, how to ask patients safely, validation, and what to do after a disclosure.
• Level 3 – DA Link training: full-day session covering the same content as Level 2 but also exploring coercive control in depth, the law, barriers to/complexities of leaving relationships, etc. Allows staff to become a DA champion in their department.

STADA offer a full-day training session for staff working at The Havens. This explores the link between DA and health and looks at DA as a gendered issue.

It also looks in depth at coercive control, and the complexities of leaving and teaches staff the AVAA model of response.